Department for Business and Trade

Energy Intensive Industries electricity support package

Lord Johnson of Lainston: My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Kemi Badenoch MP) has today made the following statement.Yesterday the government brought forward a package of measures to address energy costs for our most energy-intensive industries, which includes companies in important strategic sectors that attract significant investment into Great Britain such as steel, chemicals production and other foundational manufacturing.The current cost differential in electricity between Britian and comparable neighbouring countries means businesses in these sectors based in the UK are finding it harder to remain competitive. The April 2022 British Energy Security Strategy committed to address the issue of high prices. We are delivering on this commitment with a package of support to keep British industry competitive, protect jobs across the country and incentivise large manufacturers to stay and scale-up their businesses in Great Britain. The measures will help attract and sustain investment, particularly for nascent, internationally mobile sectors such as gigafactories, for whom high energy costs are regularly cited as a critical factor in decision-making for inward investment.The government has identified three key features of the domestic energy system which together contribute to higher costs than comparable countries and which we now intend to address via the following package of measures:a. An increase from 85% to 100% relief from the costs of the renewable leviesb. 100% exemption from capacity market chargesc. Relief from eligible network charging costs We will consult in Spring 2023 to gather feedback from industry on how best to deliver Capacity Market and Network Charging changes.